


Aeipathy

by water_lotus



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 13:31:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9183724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/water_lotus/pseuds/water_lotus
Summary: aeipathy — A lost word, an aeipathy is classified as an unyielding passion or love of something or someone. A passion so strong that it could be considered pathological; it withstands, time, doubt, and change.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sapphire-x-dreams (dA)](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=sapphire-x-dreams+%28dA%29).



**Morning Cuddles + Breakfast In Bed**

This is the third time Shinri has re-awoken from his short-lived slumbering since early that morning, and also the third time he stirs awake to cast his stare upon the figure next to him before deciding she still is sleeping. Just as she was the first time he awoke to find her continuing to snooze.

Although he has slept beside her countless times, Yotogari Shinri sometimes forgets how easy Abi sleeps and how heavy of a sleeper she can be. Her arms curl around the pillow to circle it while craning her neck to avoid the rays of dawn’s sunlight creeping on her. Countless times, Shinri has awoken earlier than she and pressured himself into returning to sleep for the sake of not wanting to wake her, or to simply watch her. She doesn’t snore in her sleep, but he can see where her chest rises and falls just the slightest. Some nights, a hum will escape from her lungs as she snoozes, or she will roll around until comfortable, commonly latching onto Shinri’s arm or simply laying out flat atop the mattress on her stomach. Being the third time he has awoken since early that morning - as Shinri is a natural morning bird and is used to waking early - he decides to finally sneak from the comfort of bed, tiptoeing across the floor from the bedroom. Honey rays of late morning sun spill in distorted shapes upon the floor and walls of the home. The earth is still slowing and beginning to put itself to rest for Winter, but for now things are still relatively warm. Things are comfortable and peaceful for Yotogari Shinri. The kitchen waits with pristine eagerness for Shinri’s arrival. The kettle rests on the back stove-top burner in anticipation while jars and boxes of different tea flavors await his decision-making.

Aiming towards something warm and earthy, he carefully tugs at a worn jar of oolong tea rich in tones of cinnamon and cloves that never fails to make him feel truly at home and relaxed. The morning sky beckons him, but the promise of tangled sheets is far more exhilarating. Not even fifteen minutes since stepping from the bedroom, Shinri returns, though carefully balancing a tray carrying his own cup of tea, along with a duplicate, along with leftovers of rice tossed with an egg into an omelette to share. He doesn’t mean to wake her, he doesn’t want to intentionally, but before he knows it, Abi is stretching to greet the heavy sunlight kissing her cheeks with a smile that burns right through Shinri’s lungs and straight through his veins. “How long have you been up?” She wonders, as if knowing of Shinri’s secret morning routines. Her guilt-less smirk sparks with a hint of curiosity as he regains control of his molten lungs, climbing back beside her. “Not long.” He’s technically not lying, he tells himself, almost shamefully. Humming in rumored acceptance, Abi eyes the male with a kind of sweet aroma that should be considered sinful. Almost as sinfully sweet as any chai tea he sips at while watching her-- She thanks him for the breakfast after breaking past a small yawn and pulling her way towards the extra cup of tea, which she is also grateful for. Her head finds a perfect spot upon his shoulder, as if it’s meant to be there, and she greets the morning with awe. Her body returns back again to curl against the body next to hers as she slowly recovers from her previous sleeping, dotting kisses to Shinri’s jaw as if to relay the message both to herself and him that neither of them are still dreaming. It is not silent but the quiet tempo oozing between them is calming, as if it were a lullaby.  
Outside, the wind chimes attached to the roofing jingle and bounce rhythms off one another with the wind’s urgency. Birds nestled in the trees and brush outside the home bustle to life with the sun’s arrival, chirping in tunes and songs of another language all their own. It is not silent, but their own small world thrives within that sort of quiet solace found between the sheets in the early morning.

Neck Kisses In the slowed, quiet hours of evening when lingering eyes are gone, he can’t take his hands off of her. With the privacy that no others are pestering prying gazes to them, Shinri takes full responsibility to savor the moment and memorize traces on warm lips and soft fingers, skin smoothed from old scars by his own cold fingertips drawing lines. She adores his eyes, bespeckled like warm rays of sunlight entrancing her each and every time he looks at her. Abi hates to take her eyes away from his, but does so with the exception to give needed attention elsewhere. To the stray snowy hairs of his head that stick out of place and the tips of his ears that still burn just in the lightest shade of red when she wraps her arms around his torso as if she’ll lose him the next minute.  
He doesn’t mind.

He enjoys the feeling of her palms creating craters on his spine and fingers tracing words she’s never known or star constellations he wouldn’t be able to recognize. He loves pressing greedy lips to hers, addicted to the way she accepts and reacts with as much enthusiasm to his chapped lips molding against hers. He presses himself into her hands, as if he’s afraid she’ll vanish if he doesn’t hold onto her. He has to keep her. She must be with him and he must be with her. They must be. In dimming sunset skies and early dawn settings, he never grows tired of her touch. She unravels when he paves roads with his lips, setting courses down her jaw and down her clavicle, only making small off-trails to lean kisses to her ear or back at her lips before returning to his journey. Her own travels consist of vast waves of silver strands dividing between her fingers, toes curling beneath the nips he places at her neck.

In hot summer atmospheric nights and under twinkling stars, or beyond fits of sleep and with half-awake smiles. All of it and more are things found in the small spaces of their universe but the centre consists of only one thing:  
_Him._  
_Her._

* * *

 

**Post-Its**

Undetermined shifts and irregular work hours have a nasty habit of keeping Yotogari Shinri away from enjoying pleasantries throughout the day with her, it seems. Although inconvenient for his desire to spend time with Abi, he enjoys the work as he rushes in and out of operating rooms, changing gloves and washing his hands before checking up on other ailing patients. At five in the morning, he hates to wake her with the alarm of his pager, as he apologizes and climbs from bed to rush to work. She sends him off with tired smiles and kisses away his apology before he forces himself to leave her embrace.

Although he can’t be with her all the time, he finds ways to make sure he stays with her at times. The first time it presents itself to Abi is a cold Fall morning at nine. It’s a bright green and catches her eye the moment she wakes and sits up in bed, noticing the blanket tucked around her form.  
_I knew you were going to be cold, so I pulled out the extra blankets. There’s breakfast on the counter for you, as well.  Shinri_

The next time it occurs, Shinri arrives home late at night when Abi is away visiting friends. It is a new color, a vibrant lilac this time, and hangs off the entrance wall so that Shinri just can’t miss it when he walks in.

_Dinner is still on the stove and I made some cinnamon cake today, too! Don’t eat all of it without me, I’d rather share it with you! xo Abi_

 

Their game of tag continues for weeks from reminders of groceries to get or simple love letters scrawled on small spaces and stuck in places that are impossible to look past. The day that Abi gathers up the laundry to be done, she stacks his scrubs and coats in a neat pile and leaves a pink note of how she discovered a new method of taking the stains out. Another time, Abi is greeted by an orange piece that requests her to meet him at half after noon. Whereupon finding him waiting for her in the front entrance of the clinic, she runs to grapple at him in a strangling hug, spotting the lunch laid out for them both. Months pass between their silent conversations written on paper and pass along, signed in kisses and hugs and making promises that are quickly made good of. Yotogari Shinri sighs with a roll and pop of his shoulders as he calls out from the entrance of the doorway, “I’m home, Abi.”  
He receives no response and stops in the process of taking his shoes off to ponder her absence. Had she left to go grocery shopping today? To visit a friend? Perhaps Tsuouji Kiriya had made it his duty to keep her company and take her somewhere. Shinri debates on each of these topics before blue stops his thinking.

_You’ll have to come find me xx Abi_

It’s teasing in the lowest form. Shinri smirks behind the blue note as he discards the process of shedding his jacket at the entryway, venturing into the hallway adorned by another scrap of blue. You’re a little warmer now. But you’ll have to try harder x Abi Shinri huffs as he reads the loose handwriting, adding it to his small collection in his left palm, now careful not to miss any other sightings of blue.

_Warmer… xo Abi_  
_Warmer… xx Abi_

_It’s a little **hot** , wouldn't you say? ox Abi _

He’s now circling through the house, as if on a wild goose chase! He’s escaped through the kitchen and small living area, having explored most of the entire house except for one place. Standing in front of his shared bedroom, Shinri is sure by a logical majority rule that the tips of his ears are burning, just as they would have had it been similar to their first interactions together- still shy and hesitant. But Shinri has battled over waves of such doubt and now carries a kind of bravery within his pride. Ripping the last blue note from the door face, he wastes no time to journey beyond the doorframe, gaze darting from each and every corner in hopes of spotting her. But he risks that urgency with the anticlimactic, almost forlorn, sense that overwhelms him upon finding Abi nowhere in sight. Yet another blue note sticks restfully to the comforter of the bed, as if to add to Yotogari Shinri’s dubious disappointment.

**_Very hot xxx_ **

Abi Now she’s just playing with him, pulling him on a loose string like some sort of pet. Not that he particularly minds, but he’s becoming anxious to find her in their little game. Abi is trained in quiet deftness and a skill that remains elusive to Shinri. Although he’s spent some few years alongside her, he still has yet to catch onto all her tricks quite yet. Arms pounce to trap Yotogari Shinri in his place, and the sudden act of it pushes the slightest of winces from him on instinct, before a kiss is cornered at his cheek. “I told you you were close,” Abi speaks through fits of giggles and laughter at his painfully embarrassed expression. Letting him go free, he turns to find the smile tugging at her lips wider than usual as she reaches into wrap herself around him once more, as if unwavering to allow him to slip from such grasp. “I believe the word you used was ‘hot’.” He stumbles just in the slightest over his last words, but Abi gets the point he pushes in his sarcastic nature. Stopping him before he can speak more witty gibberish, he accepts the form of silence whereupon his lips meet hers. “Happy birthday, Shin!” Ah, now he knows what this is all about. It takes him a fraction of a second to comprehend her words, and another to realize today’s date. She’s right.

“So.. You made me chase around for you on my birthday?” To Shinri, it’s actually a fantastic idea, of which he fully enjoyed and would not hesitate to do again, save for the fact that now he has her in his arms he doesn’t plan to let her go! “Is that my gift then?” He wouldn’t complain of course, never about Abi. Receiving a gentle tap on his nose, Abi smirks in light of his irony.  
“What,” she drawls innocently, “Here I thought you’d like it. Besides, there’s more, even if the notes don’t say that.” Right, the blue sticky notes. The ones that don’t nearly come close in comparison to the sky blue that twinkles in Abi’s gaze of which Shinri is trapped in. “I also made cake,” she prompts, urging him to pull her closer, murmuring against her smooth lips dotted in a sort of sinful torture Shinri just cannot get enough of.

“Really?” He asks absentmindedly, as she continues, stealing a kiss at the corner of his lips while humming in agreement.  
“I also ordered some yakitori from that one place off of the main street that you like,” now he’s really taken, “And I might have also snuck something in between your scrubs-” He doesn’t let her finish. He can’t stand to hear the rest of it before he’s kissing her again and holding her even closer than before, if possible.

“So do you like your presents?” How could he not?

“Of course I do,” he urges, picking her up in a single fluid motion. “How could I not when my gift is so very _hot_?”

* * *

 

**Karaoke**

It started as a joke.  
Tsuouji Kiriya had dealt an unlucky hand when making false promises to Yotogari Shinri while intoxicated. Which had a tendency to happen quite often. More than he would admit. Why she was dragged into the whole ordeal was another question of concern that she had, herself, watching the two settle into the private room after thanking the waitress. The karaoke outlet was bright and vibrant in colors, even for the dimmed lights and weight of evening upon them. Abi stands at the door overlooking the entire scenario, wondering why she was told to accompany them. Beside her, Tsukishima Sayuri presses a palm to her shoulder to jolt her from her dazed thinking. Already, she is excited and looking forward to their group activity, as promoted by the previously drunk Kiriya just two days ago. Abi can barely remember it, watching as he and Shinri stumbled into her home. Rather, Shinri nearly tripped on his own two feet while holding up Kiriya on his shoulder. The rest of the night, Kiriya exclaimed that, in honor of their new lives as official adults approaching- on account of Yotogari Shinri’s recent birthday and Abi’s own just around the corner- it was in their best interest to do something to keep their youth up.

That something turned out to be the classic cliche of teens turning out a karaoke shop after school with friends. Abi shakes her head at the grim reminder, finally seating herself next to Shinri on the couch opposite of Kiriya and Sayuri who is already flipping through the binder of music on-record and available titles to sing to. Although Yotogari Shinri is normally enthusiastic about anything pertaining to music, he can’t help but stay silent with cheeks burning as he contemplates on apologizing to Abi for the entire situation. After a curt apology in hushed tones to her, he continues on, face ablaze, “I-I mean, for coming to your house in the middle of the night with Kiriya and..and everything. I didn’t know he would actually take us all out like he said that night. I was just expecting him to wake up without any memory of the night before, you know?”

“No, it’s fine,” Abi breathes in some strange form of relief. She sinks into the purple couch with haste before looking to the male. “I mean, it could be fun, who knows, right?”

Shinri did always have the best singing voice, and she knows fully well that he would take full pride in it while enjoying tonight as best as possible. Nodding, Shinri pulls away to flick his irises to the luminous screen awaiting their selection. He can’t say he’s entirely dissatisfied about the activity, at least. In no time, Sayuri has auctioned herself to be the first participant, chanting along to some bubbly pop song that has probably made the top charts recently, although none of them know for sure.

“Abi, you too! We can do a duet together!”

After nearly fifteen minutes worth of singing, Abi is the only one left who has not yet approached the microphone to sing. It wasn’t that she was afraid to participate with the rest of them, but it seemed better to her to simply watch from her own seat. Soon enough, Kiriya is on her case as well and Abi rolls her eyes and turns just the lightest shade of pink as Tsukishima Sayuri already is leafing through song titles that speak to her as “a match for Abi”.  
“Do you not want to sing?” Shinri doesn’t want to be a bother, but seeing Abi’s silent resistance to join in makes him eager to know why. For a moment, he wonders if she is insecure of her own voice, realizing that in all the time he’s known Abi, he’s never once heard her really sing. Sure, she hums mindless tunes while performing chores and small tasks, but never really sings.

  
“Mm, not really,” Abi’s laughter rings throughout Shinri’s ears as she stretches out on the comforts of the seating. “I’m not nearly as good as you, but I think I just enjoy watching everyone else have fun, maybe.” He blinks owlishly at the words coming from Abi’s mouth, heart nearly skipping over the complement derived towards him.  
“We could..I mean, we could sing one together, if you’d like.” He hopes the words he think he just said did not really come out. Instead, they escape his lips in a mumble, though one that not only Abi hears, but words that Kiriya overhears as well.

“That’s a good idea, Shin!” Before his name has even rolled off his tongue, Kiriya is suddenly directing Sayuri to turn to the duet section of the binder, instructing her to find the perfect match for the two. Shinri’s profuse reluctancy and rebuttal is useless. As soon as Sayuri is on board with the idea, as well, he’s done for. Leaning back in lame failure, he shoots a glance of apology to Abi, which is agreed with a small titter and a smile that reassures him that everything is fine. They don’t tell the duo what song they are singing. Instead, both Kiriya and Sayuri urge the two up from their couch and demand them to grapple for the microphones and wait. Surprisingly, the music is pleasant and for briefest of moments Abi wonders if she’s heard the symphony from somewhere. As usual, Shinri sings in perfect harmony with the tune, never missing a beat although he looks flustered and keeps his focus fully within the range of the screen throwing out lyrics to them both. Abi stumbles at the first signs of her lines, but picks up soon after, wondering if the melody she raises her voice with is even correct.  
But still she sings.

“But tune your ears to your heart; it may be small but you will definitely hear it.”  
“On top of the mount of dreams, your courage has been growing.”

Neither of them can hear it. They can see the words plain in front of them, but nothing else is seen. Nothing is heard.  
At this point, Shinri has turned away from the screen for what seems like a fraction of a second turned into the blossoming of the universe; a new sky unfolding.

“If it’s with the beautiful you-”

He smiles at her in just the smallest form as he sings. But she’s stuck on his voice; caught in his vocal chords and severed between his lungs. She’s never even seen the twinkle of stars beneath his sun-filled eyes, glistening in a glorious gold smothering her entire being until she suffocates and drowns in it.  
Abi only sings two more times that night after her performance alongside Shinri. For the rest of the evening she’s covered in gold and mesmerized by the warm embrace she never noticed before hiding in Yotogari Shinri’s smiles and eyes, crawling under his skin and longing to reach out for her.

* * *

 

**Names**

The cool breezes and blue dusky skies of Winter are a solace to Yotogari Shinri. Having grown in a land capable of muggy and stressful Summers that displease him to no end, it’s bound to be his least favorite time of the year rather than the calmness of Fall. Even though they are already well into November and nearing the appearance of December days, snow has not piled up so fast outside in the slumbering remains of nature. The rice fields are put to rest after the months of work done in September and October, as the land makes amends for a new year and a new start to the harvest. Abi is thankful for the minimal amounts of snow and, although she appreciates its beauty, relaxes into the couch without shivering as Shinri coddles her in yet another blanket.

“You know I’d be much warmer if you just laid next to me.” Yotogari Shinri turns to examine his spouse reclining into the couch facing the kotatsu he sits under, focused diligently on slicing the remainder of persimmons from the season. Since Abi has offered to make bread out of the fruit- when she mentions the cinnamon she puts into it, Shinri somehow becomes enthralled by the idea completely- he has thus taken up the opportunity to prepare the fruit for her, promising to slice the hachiya persimmons and ground them into a paste. Somehow, looking upon her resting figure under the heaps of blankets he has provided her with makes him laugh more than he should.  
Perhaps it’s the fact that the gathering of comforters at her waist make her protruding stomach all the more noticeable than before. When he’s calmed his outburst and apologizes, he leaves his work at the table to join her as she requests, shedding off some two blankets from her form before positioning himself behind her so that she can lean into his chest. Although he has taken two of the sheets away, he notices the bump cinched at her lower abdomen still remains just as large as he had supposedly hallucinated. Had it already been so long, he wonders, contemplating if he’s lost track of the weeks and months since then. For all that it’s worth, Spring and Summer have been promising enough and Shinri prevents himself from complaining in relation to the two seasons. The early hours of that Spring have given him a gift that the cool days of Winter shall soon receive.

 

It is no more than two days later that Shinri takes full custody of that treasure which has been bestowed upon him, fully recognizing those things which were promised in the days of sunny skies and newlywed nights. The snow has only just begun its descent, falling leisurely in small flakes that dot across the landscape in slow strokes, as if the world has slowed all the more to savor the sweetness that comes with the cold temperature. It is still early in the afternoon, despite the fatigue that plagues Abi in a newfound wave of realization. A stroke of enlightenment crashes over Yotogari Shinri in the Winter’s grip of late November, coming to terms with his own Spring of new meaning.

“What should we name them?” Them, as in _two_. One more than expected, but that’s what makes it a surprise. _Two_ , as in a girl and a boy. Although they are separated only by means of less than half an hour, the two are one and that one perspective now lingers hotly in Shinri’s forefront thoughts in his rocketing race to fatherhood. It doesn't help that, because it was left unknown for the purpose of surprises, that neither of them had settled completely on names for either sex when the time came. It takes another short moment for Shinri to allow the moment to sink in, to absorb the scene and make a mental note of it in his memory to never forget it. In savoring the new sight, he swallows through a multitude of character combinations and possible names adequate enough for either of the twins.  
“Kotoe,” he breathes and the earth quiets. The cold atmosphere does not deteriorate the breezes and winds that fly precariously through Oto on a regular basis, sweeping it’s long fingers over the gentle caress over the various wind chimes that still hang outside. Of course he would pick a name that bears resemblance to one of his prized musical outlets, Abi thinks with a knowing smile. Yet, somehow, she cannot complain. Looking at her daughter’s face it all fits perfectly, just as the strings of a koto fall together in a symphony of harmony altogether.

“Hibiya, then,” she bargains while pressing both of them closer to her in the midst of Winter’s icy breath across the room. For a moment, Shinri is pleasantly content with the syllables rolling from her tongue in a coherent, familiar kind of sense. The next moment, however, he is confused and turns to Abi with the same brazen questionable features.

“You mean.. _Kyoya_?” Surely, the characters written out mentally add up to that of which is a name not that she has mentioned previously. Shaking her head, Abi explains the written difference and delegates that his written name would then only be in hiragana or katakana, seeing the obvious mishap if it were to be spelled through such characters spelling out another name beyond his own. Shinri repeats it once more, letting it finally soak on his tongue, calling out to his daughter in her newly adopted name as well. Outside, the land is silent and bears harmony to the life that surrounds it. The sky calls in forms of dangling chimes battering against one another in a melody. The moon elicits the last lingering grins of the sun before it is to hide away again. The two which were thought to be just one arrive to accompany Abi and Shinri as they usher in a new chapter. The four are one.

The chimes _sing, again_.

* * *

 

**Long Distance**

It was perfect.

Her bags were packed and ready to go, her pantry removed of any goods that would spoil before her return, even her apartment was refreshed and relatively neat for when she returned. She wasn’t exactly sure when such return would take place, but it didn’t matter so much because it was all perfect. Her pass to the two-day bus lay on the counter beside her keys, wallet and other necessities. Her luggage holding at least a week’s worth of clothing sat near the door for her departure and she glanced wearily at the clock, only wishing it would go by faster. Abi’s bus was not scheduled to leave until later that day, in three hour’s time, to be exact. She had been ready since early that morning and now sat in waiting. She couldn’t help but feel anxious, anticipation rising through her lungs, only to deflate with the stinging reminder of time.  
Time.  
  
One of the two things that were a cause for separation. The second, distance, was like another ring of hell in itself. It threw off Abi’s hours, calling early in the morning and staying up late at night to chat. It withdrew feelings of comfort and diminished intimacy to a grain between she and her distant heart that lie in wake of her lover. Chance encounters were not enough to last over a span of months spent apart from one another. Letters and phone calls could only do so much. But now, she looked to abolish those difficulties and escape from those chains that held her. Her bus pass and planning were her ticket out of there.  
And in two day’s time and three more hours, it would all be perfect.

 

Golden eyes attentive to the stoic screen and eyebrows shuffling in a forward furrowed motion, Yotogari Shinri waits. A sigh creases his lips as he tears his gaze away from the phone for the first time in minutes since sending off his most recent text message. It’s a tad obsessive of him, he admits in a sort of guilty pleasure. He yearns for Abi’s attention and response, thus leading him to staring at the blank canvas of his message board for nearly five minutes without her reply. For the past day and a half now, it’s been like this. His texts slowly inch out to her and hers to him at the same snail’s pace. He vaguely wonders if it’s due to the slowed grappling for internet connection on his end or the disinterest on her end. His insecurities are silenced by a buzzing in his hands, lighting up instantly at the sight of her reply unfolding smiles to him. Although he is delighted by her message displayed, asking about his day and adding a trivial amount of heart symbols alongside her reply, his heart tugs yet again at the forlorn thoughts in the back of his head. It doesn’t matter, however, because in less than seven hours everything will be perfect.

Things are _not_ going as planned.

More specifically, only one thing is ruining Abi’s perfect plans. One small, minor detail that sets off her entire time there. Shinri is not home. Abi waits in front of his house patiently, knocking effortlessly and standing to the side of the door, pondering the possibility of him being in the shower, watering plants, doing work, having gone out to buy groceries-- She calls and texts him and is met with no response. Abi perches herself atop her luggage and once more, she waits. She waits for what seems like another hour before her phone wakes her, ringing a cacophony of music as she hurriedly picks up the incoming phone call. “Shinri!” He is silent for a moment before stumbling over his own words.  
“Are you… Are you not home?” It is Abi’s turn to hold her tongue and breath in her lungs, quieted by his words. He calls her name once, twice, before she slowly regains her consciousness from her short-lived comatose. She reiterates the same question back to him. Suddenly, they understand. Neither can stand to be mad in such a situation, but rather sigh on impact of the weighted realization; Abi attempts to laugh off the entire situation, because it truly is amusing, but Shinri only sighs once more in disdain fortune. Things have not turned out perfectly. But they are not imperfect. They return to the bus depot and await at the terminal for the next bus that will take them backwards where they once came from again. They agree to meet halfway and book a room together for a week-long trip to finally see each other once again.

It is all imperfectly perfect as long as Shinri’s arms are twisted around her body and her eyes are locked on his and his alone.

* * *

 

**Rescue**

Unnumbered days and insufferable weeks spent in silence—

How many weeks exactly has it been?  
Unrequited days and infallible evening skies choked from her lungs without a shred of dignity or compassion. She lost track somewhere in the blistering colds and paralyzed forces of the walls barricading her. He waits in anticipation to tear down those walls from her. She assumes it’s morning. Not that it particularly matters in the long-run, but keeping track of things- or assuming she knows- keeps herself locked in some kind of eloquent sanity. Her terse fingertips rust from the winter air; she presumes her location lies somewhere along the northern territory that craters the mountainous regions just barely looking over the seas. For a moment she ponders over the greying matter piling in the corner of her cell in the expanse of catacombs.

She dares to linger on the thought; is it some tangible mess of spoiled food tossed aside, or perhaps the dust of her own room. Maybe it’s the snowfall, she begs to answer her own inquiries, casting her gaze to what would be a window, had there been one, imaging the frozen touches of rainfall kissing the earth.  
Her eyes turn away.

Now, Abi is not lacking in motivation nor the desired wit that would persist in her way out of her. No, she is neither a patient woman, typically. She is not brash nor careless and reckless in her actions; she does not spit out irksome worries that would surely do no good to her circumstances. She waits. There is but one guard overseeing her stay, of which rotates each half-day, in feeble attempts to relinquish any fears of her escape. With this in mind, she waits until a rotation occurs at mid-day, feeding out words of rash exclamations and biting words of insults that do not nip at her skin, but only bark at her ear. “Why are we keeping her alive, again?” He nudges the slumbering ronin awake, enticing him out of his fervent dreams while repeating himself on account of the guard’s awakening murmurs.

“You dunce,” the guard propels forward with a sigh and stretch, “We need her for the banter.” Yes, she nearly forgot. All this started as a small, harmless diplomatic session with a neighboring nation looking to reinvent its own enraged vision of war upon other states that were within Konohagakure’s touch. Although she can imagine that her head may have been worth the pleasure to decapitate and use as a means for that war front, there were other needs in the troubled country that only a nation such as her home could fulfill. That, of course, would only be capable through a wager price, give or take the life of a shinobi. And what better luck than she herself in the snare of that trap! As of now, she awaited interrogation and information implanting as with what to do with her and how to address Konoha’s attention to the situation. It’s only dumb luck that Abi knows all of this, given she predestined this sort of gimmick to fall upon her unfortunate being. Nevertheless, it’s in her own demise that it actually did fall into place the way she believed. Neither is it a comforting thought that none of it will work, the nation’s bargaining chip that is, since all of this has been part of a foreseeing discussed with the Hokage and leaders of those small nearby lands all wrapped up in this ideal plot. It would be intensely dumb in itself to believe such logic would work, alone! Was there really any realistic portrait painting that of this thought-out plan? No one with enough intellect would truly barter for her own life, simply one out of the many, nor would they appropriate the means to save her if it cost more lives at stake. No, she was on her own in this rusted cave. Alone in this trial of her own balance of understanding and intelligence to save her own ass.

 

Things are going unexpectedly pleasantly, in Abi’s opinion. So far, she has run into only a handful of in-position ronin guards, all of which are easily swept under the rug and profusely taken out of her way. Escaping should not have been this easy, surely. She’s actually a bit irked by the fact that there is no proper greeting of a standing army for her, no obstacles that trap her where she stands; there is no sign of originality in the so-called prison what-so-ever. Not at all like the stories, Abi huffs in her sarcastic stride, venturing past the entrance to the tunnels that lead back to the roof of natural land where she mistakes the gentle caress of snowfall for stars in the moonlight. “Hunh.” She takes a moment to sigh in disbelief. And here, she was sure it was still late afternoon, as per the unnecessary information of current time whilst in her holding cell. The moon bids her wrong and she continues forth. Although her original plans of meeting with the war hero leading this game have been futile, she still encourages herself to allow herself in stealing as much information as she can and eliminating any future threats while she is still here. Ensuring the safety of those nations bordering the land is her utmost priority. Ah, wait- there’s one more. Nestled behind the stone wall of the surrounding compound, she can sense the ominous presence hiding between the shrubbery and brush laden in snow. There’s no mistaking it, but now she’s determined to move in place before he makes a notion to truly take notice of her-

“Abi?” Golden eyes filled with starlight are not what she expects.  
“Shinri.” Her sigh is filled with blistering confusion, blinking away what she believes to be her delusioning. Surely enough, it’s him, without a doubt in his celestial-kissed hair and brusque tone speaking to her with such shock riddling his tongue.

“What..I thought- How did you,” he’s stumbling over his own tongue far too much. “I mean, I came to-”

“To _rescue_ me?”  
Hesitation filters through her teeth, anticipation of his words leaking from her lungs greeting the ice cold fog of Winter sitting in the atmosphere. At the thought, she’s overwhelmed with a sort of vague thoughtfulness, quickly overrun by distant gawks and calls of more ronin on the outskirts of the compound. Less talk, more run. There’s a river that runs through the nation, dividing it from the mainland where Konohagakure lies in the south west region, and exactly where Abi is headed. If she can cross it, she’ll be able to free herself from their clutches- for now. She sets the course and doesn’t stop to look back, reconsidering as Shinri pulls alongside her. “I-I’m sorry!” What is he apologizing for? “I meant to come sooner, once I had found out but-” But she saved herself.

Maybe it wasn’t what he expected, but it’s none of her concern at the moment. He can apologize later, but for now she reassures him that it’s alright. Across the river, everything is alright. “So,” Shinri stops to catch his breath, smothering his golden glazed irises in Abi’s visage as soon as they’ve vanished into the evergreen thicket. “Care to tell me what all that was about?” The humor stinging Abi’s lungs in a crisp chuckle hurt in the burning cold, but she entertains the question from Shinri for a second longer.

“Maybe later, when I get back,” she promises, turning to him quickly, “You..are coming with me, right?” Yotogari Shinri grins in the moonlight like a wolf ready to hunt her and howl after he **devours** her. His fingers graze past her arm and spin down her lower back; she’s in his grap.  
“I couldn’t think of anything better.” Her lips are on his in an instant, feverish dreams hidden in the dry crevices of her lips, tasting like a sweet nectar of sin to Shinri. He feels ice cold yet scorching when she pulls away.

“Thanks for coming to rescue me.” He’s going to be devoured by her, surely.

**Author's Note:**

> — song referenced in "Karaoke" is from the To The Beautiful You OST, "Rise and Shine" performed by Tiffany and Kyuhyun


End file.
